Damage scaling in fighting games is nothing new; it’s the reason that touch of death combos aren’t typically easy to come by. That doesn’t mean these combos don’t exist–they certainly do–but we have damage scaling to thank for keeping them mostly under control.
As with any mechanic, damage proration in Ultra Street Fighter IV has a lot of nuances that play into how much health any given series of hits will drain. Everything from number of inputs involved to the remaining health of your opponent can keep combo damage lower than expected. In his newest video, Bafael explains how all of these pieces fit together to give us the system that we have today.
While this information will benefit newer players the most, it’s important for all serious players to understand how to properly optimize combos so that they can weigh the benefits of using, say, a multiple input target combo to hit confirm instead of a couple standing strongs. The difference in damage could be enough to result in a win where an opponent would have otherwise limped to victory on a single magic pixel.
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Source: Bafael